The New York Times has an article about the strawberries that grow near the Belgian village of Wepion, south of Namur. Anyone who has been to the village in spring or summer knows that strawberries here are extremely important. You will find many strawberry stands on the main road leading to Dinant with these excellent strawberries that have been picked probably earlier in the day. The strawberry growers say they are special because they are picked when they are ripe.
Ferran Adria, the chef of el Bulli fame does not need any introductions. Although he is no longer cooking in a restaurant, he is constantly doing new things, though he says that he is currently not doing anything related to gastronomy. His new project is to deconstruct the idea of food, its language, history, anthropology and culture. The restaurant has morphed into a lab and he wants people to think differently. Read what he is doing here.
Gabriele Zanatta has a great interview with Joan Roca, the chef at El Celler de Can Roca. The restaurant was crowned best restaurant in the world two weeks ago and the chef says the award puts a strong pressure on their way of working.
If you are heading to Bordeaux any time soon, you may want to save this article on places to eat, like a winemaker in this French winemaking region.
On the subject of eating in cities, you may want to also save this article for one of your next trips abroad. It is a compilation of places where Financial Times correspondents drink and dine in different cities around the world. It includes places like Madrid, Frankfurt, Sao Paulo, Warsaw, New York, Berlin, Tokyo, Paris and Rome among others.
Belgian chef Gert De Mangeleer has been to Hong Kong to cook at the restaurant of Richard Ekkebus, Amber for a three-day pop-up event. You can read a mouthwatering account of the dinner here.
Falanghina from the Campania region of Southern Italy is a very interesting grape variety to try particularly in these hot summer months. This is normally a great value wine in wine lists in restaurants and one you should look out for. Eric Asimov has a great article.
Asimov also has a good article in his wine lesson series on Cava.
And to conclude, here is an article on what to eat and drink in Puglia, Italy. You can also read an article about wines from Puglia. One key winemaker says that the region is moving away from making overly alcoholic ‘monster’ wines in favour of more elegant reds.
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